Passing By
by DoubleEdgedSword99
Summary: Moments snatched by the wind - pressed between pages - snapped in film - and whispered in the dark. RenRuki; rated T for spoilers.


** Dedicated to my friend, whose birthday was on the 17th.**

**Warnings: SPOILERS FOR THE LATEST BLEACH CHAPTER UPDATED ON MANGAHERE. OOC-ness (and one OC).**

**(These will range from sentences to drabbles to rare one-shots; there will also be many AUs...)**

_This is a flashback. _**/.../** is a time-skip.

**Enjoy, and drop a review if you'd like!**

* * *

**Prompt 1: Beginnings**

Rukia didn't know exactly when it began, for her, at least.

Maybe it was the night when Renji rolled his eyes at her shiverings, then shrugged off his blanket and gave it to her instead, and then huddled in a heap for the rest of the night.

Or maybe it was the time when he protected her from that irate man from whom she had tried to beg money from. He had taken the slap for her, then grabbed her wrist and tugged her along, verbally abusing her all the way.

She remembered when she realized it, though. It was when she was lying awake; staring at the ceiling and recalling every memory she had of her first day of being adopted by the Kuchiki family. It had hit her like a sledgehammer, and she hadn't been able to get to sleep that night.

She hasn't regretted at thing since.

**Prompt Two: Middles**

Everything was perfect.

Well, not _everything _– Ichigo and Matsumoto were dancing a drunken jig in the corner, Yumichika was shimmying to the waltz, and Zaraki could be heard roaring from a distant room, but it was enough for them.

Rukia wrapped her arms around Renji, feeling the happiest she had felt in a long time. He caught her hands and traced the outline of the ring on her finger, his own catching on the small, yet shining, diamonds.

"Kiss her!" Ichigo shouted, and Renji flushed as red as his hair – even though they were married now. Rukia rolled her eyes, grinning, and amid the wolf-whistles and cheering, stood on tip-toes to kiss _him_.

Yup, everything was perfect.

**Prompt Three: Endings**

Their children were grown, their house was quiet, and they were together as they breathed their last in their sleep.

**Prompt Four: Insides**

"…Really?" Renji asked again, and she couldn't help but laugh at his incredulity.

"Yes, really!" She said, and placed his hand over her stomach.

They stood like that for a long time, grinning like fools, as if they could just _feel_ the life becoming a person inside.

**Prompt Five: Outsides **

When Rukia woke up, the first thing she saw was Renji, holding a bundle of blankets in his arms with impossible gentleness.

He looked up, and held him out wordlessly. She took her son with just as much care, as if he were made of glass.

He had a round face, and a tuft of maroon hair already growing on his pink head. He was small, but she could already tell he'd be strong. He was the most enchanting and endearing thing she had seen in her entire life.

"What should we name him?" Rukia breathed at last, breaking the silence.

Renji thought for a moment. "…Kaien," he said, and she smiled.

**Prompt Six: Hours (AU)**

She sits at his bedside as soon as she can, waiting for him to wake up. She reaches out to touch his face; then realizes she's being watched. She looks up, and sees Byakuya standing there, looking ashen and bewildered. She's vaguely impressed – it had only been a few minutes since the phone call.

"What happened?" he asks, going to sit next to her, and she turns back to Renji.

"Car crash," she answers, and he doesn't comment on how forlorn she sounds. He takes her hand, and she squeezes back.

And they sit there together, for hours of silence, until a nurse drops by, telling them that visiting hours are over, and to come back another day.

**Prompt Seven: Days (AU)**

The doctor's verdict echoes in her mind for days – "…coma… might have memory problems…"

But she keeps sitting beside him, and it's there she vows to never stop.

**Prompt Eight: Weeks (AU)**

It is a few weeks until the flow of friends stop coming, leaving her to sit alone. For the first time, she touches him, holding his hand. When he doesn't respond, she traces a vein in his arm, and he feels warm. She finds that odd, even though she doesn't quite know why.

She starts talking; about everything that's happened while he's been in that one place she can't reach her. He can't hear her and she doesn't mind, because it gives her something to hold on to, to remember when he does – and he will – open his eyes.

**Prompt Nine: Months (AU)**

It takes her a few months to gather the courage to go back out into the world and get a new job, at a child care center across the street from the hospital. It feels as if her whole life is centered around that one machine, pumping out his heart rate, monitoring his breathing.

But, at the same time, it's not. She goes out with friends at night, even though she's never dated or even danced with anyone other than her female friends, and she still does the small things she's always done – reads comics before headlines, walks around her neighborhood every day, and has even taken up an art class.

But she's always sitting at his side, when she can, waiting.

**Prompt Ten: Years (AU)**

"If he doesn't wake up in a few days, we'll have to cut him off," the doctor, whom she now knows as Dr. Urahara, says, and she nods numbly. When he's gone, she grabs his hand and squeezes tightly, praying to some foreign God that he'll wake up soon.

It's at home when she gets the phone call. Dropping everything, hollering to the manager, she races to the hospital, hoping against hope that this isn't another false alarm.

When she gets there, his eyes are just opening, and they focus on her. She grins so widely her mouth instantly hurts, but she just can't stop smiling as they remove his mask.

Because, after all these years, he's always been the one at her side.

**Prompt Eleven: Red**

Their relationship has been stained with red since the beginning, if you think about it.

Renji's hair color, not often seen in the early years as it was caked with dirt or mud, was the brightest red Rukia had ever seen.

The red seen by the man who was chasing them as Rukia first joined the group.

The purplish juice that was red-tainted stained on their hands as they picked blackberries in the summer, the first one together. (Do they have blackberries in the Soul Society?)

There was red that danced behind Renji's eyelids every time he fell from a tree, sleeping there to avoid the fact that he was painfully aware that Rukia was beautiful, grown up. And so was he.

The red that horrified Rukia as she saw him lying there, as graceful as he was ferocious, as broken as he fixed her.

The red dots that stained Rukia's retina's as she looked up to look at Renji, squinting in the sun.

**Prompt Twelve: Orange (AU)**

Rukia loudly disagrees with her friends when they say that orange-haired football player is a way better catch than that red-headed fireball – she's had experience, after all.

**Prompt Thirteen: Yellow**

Kaien is three when he scribbles over every wall in the house with neon-yellow highlighter… But looking at her son's laughing face; Rukia can't bring herself to punish him.

Besides, they've been meaning to re-do the house anyway.

**Prompt Fourteen: Green (AU)**

It's nice, at least, in Renji's opinion; how Rukia never laughed at how green his face would turn when they went on that cruise… Unlike certain _others_, that is…

**Prompt Fifteen: Blue**

Rukia laughs out loud when she hears that Byakuya has been acting like Eyeore ever since she decided to explore the human world with Renji for a few months.

**Prompt Sixteen: Purple**

She thinks purple is a regal color now, but she didn't think much of it when she was a child, when the bruises that dotted her skin turned that putrid color.

…Then again, Renji was always there to treat them, so it really wasn't so bad.

**Prompt Seventeen: Brown**

After their first argument, Renji is the first to apologize. When the words are forced out, she looks at him for a few minutes from her spot on the ground, than scoops up a handful of mud and throws it in his face.

**Prompt Eighteen: Black (AU)**

Rukia's always hated the dark, but when the power goes out, it's not too bad to sit beside Renji and watch the two small candles flicker in the surrounding black.

**Prompt Nineteen: White (This refers back to "Years," as in, what would've happened it Renji lost his memories of a few years; obviously AU.)**

"And… Who're you?" he asks her, as cruelly curious as he can be. There's silence around his hospital bed as color drains from the joy of his awakening – grins turn to looks of uncertain hesitance, and she can just hear the words turning in their heads – _They did say there might be brain damage… That's so sad! Should we tell him? Or let her…?_

She takes a breath, trying to force the tears that have clouded her eyes not to fall.

"I… I'm Rukia Kuchiki," she says, and Byakuya gives her a proud look.

Renji looks around at Byakuya as well; then says, "Wow, my bosses famed sister came to see me! I'm honored."

Rukia feels a stab in her chest.

"Um, Renji… What's the last thing you remember? Besides the car crash, that is." That's from Ishida, crossing his arms.

"Uh…" He closes his eyes. "Ichigo and Orihime's wedding. Why?"

Orihime speaks up from the corner.

"Renji, that was five years ago. We have a child now…" There's silence in the room.

Renji looks from one face to the next, angry as the thought of a misplaced joke, fading as bewilderment takes its place – he realizes that this is reality.

"Five… Years ago?" He forces out, and Orihime shows him her wallet picture of their child – Asuka, a chubby, kind little girl – and he takes it hesitantly, before shoving it back. His face is pale and clammy, and looks as if he might be sick.

"Anything else I'm missing?" He says quietly, and Rukia fights with herself – she wants more than anything to tell him, shake him, insist he remember… But is paralyzed. She takes a deep breath, and Byakuya shifts and takes her hand. She shoots him a grateful glance as she forces her limbs to move.

She takes a step forward.

"A-Actually -" He turns his head towards her, and she's slapped again by the blank politeness reflected back at her – "we… We were engaged."

People drain from the room as if there were radioactive bacteria let loose in the air. Even Byakuya slips away, squeezing her fingers in a rare show of affection. They tremble as he lets go.

He looks as if he can't believe it. "Oh," is all he can say. "Um," he adds on, as if this will help things.

She stays there for a few minutes more, and then takes it as her dismissal when he closes his eyes.

**/…/**

She comes back, unbidden, the next day – he's still in the hospital for the minor injuries from the crash. They start talking, awkwardly, and she leaves soon, almost in tears – not from sadness, but from frustration. It's almost impossible to make any headway with Renji – he's closed off and skittish, and it infuriates her.

But she comes back the next day, and the next, until he asks her outright – "Why are you doing this? You know the doctor told everyone that those memories aren't coming back."

She glares at him fiercely, but when she speaks her voice is level. "I know," she says petulantly, "but I wanted to start over. You're the same person, even if those memories are gone, and we met around this time anyway."

He looks at her incredulously. "You mean, you want to start over…?"

She nods quickly, so quickly that her neck kinks. Wincing and rubbing at it, she speaks again – slower this time. "Yes. All new."

And when he smiles tentatively at her, she can't help but feel as if she's flying again.

**/…/**

It's been a few years, and the memories haven't come back. Renji's memory loss is crippling sometimes – he's forgotten people and things and places that were precious.

_But_ _things could have been worse_, Rukia thinks, straightening the neckline of her dress (that's as white as the memories they regrew, as white as the slate they erased and started over on), because really, they could be.

But they're happy, and that's all they can ask for.

**Prompt Twenty: Colorless **

They don't put a name on their relationship; they don't color it a certain way. It's not a watery blue for _undecided_, or pink for _puppy love_, or scarlet for _deep - _they can't define it, and they both think it's probably better that way.

**Prompt Twenty-One: Friends**

After they were strangers, before they were an item, before they were a couple, married, parents – they were, first and foremost, friends.

**Prompt Twenty-Two: Enemies**

Sure, they might not have loved each other at first sight… But they were never enemies, and no matter how hard or dirty they might fight, they both can't see how they might ever be.

**Prompt Twenty-Three: Lovers**

It's too poetic to describe their causal relationship, yet too loose a term to describe the incredible sync; the kind of forever they have.

**Prompt Twenty-Four: Family (AU)**

It's hell meeting family.

Renji doesn't have one, but he does have friends – some of whom Rukia would be fine with not knowing. But they're what Renji considers family, and for that she'll put up with the most obnoxious of the bunch.

Rukia's adopted family, however… That's another thing entirely.

**Prompt Twenty-Five: Strangers**

"Who're you?" Renji snaps, out of breath and pointing. She hands the water over to one of the others, who takes it as if it's the balm of Gilead. She meets his eye, and points right back, shouting retorts to his insults and poking him with a stick when he shakes her.

Before the day is over, they're not strangers anymore. They might not be friends, but it's a start of something neither of them can imagine.

**Prompt Twenty-Six: Teammates (AU)**

They might not be on the football team, but they're on a team of their own when they sneak up on people, completely masked by their falcon mascot costumes, and terrorize the jerks in their class who'll never know who's behind the teasing, tripping, and popcorn stealing.

Renji points a wing at the unsuspecting berry-head, and Rukia nods eagerly.

Oh, Ichigo will never know what hit him…

**Prompt Twenty-Seven: Parents (AU)**

They both flunk the "parenting project" in health class, where they're required to take care of a sensor-ridden flour bag, but that might have had something to do with the general idiocy of Yumichika (whom Rukia was saddled with) and the awkwardness of Gin (whom Renji was forced to work with, as a victim of an uneven class).

Because when they work together, the parenting thing comes easy with Kaien – most of the time, that is.

**Prompt Twenty-Eight: Children**

No matter how hard he tries to grow up or take the utmost responsibility for things, he's still the biggest kid when it comes to the simplest things.

**Prompt Twenty-Nine: Birth (AU)**

Rukia stared at the question, thinking. She had been stuck on this one question for weeks now, and had no idea how to go about answering that one single word – birth.

So she simply typed, OUCH.

**Prompt Thirty – Death (AU)**

_Seriously_, she thought to herself, scrolling down to the next question, _what kind of questions are these?_

**Prompt Thirty-One – Sunrise**

Renji thinks that his captain's Senbonzakura is the exact color of a sunrise – the color of the sky just as it's waking up.

He'll never tell, though.

**Prompt Thirty-Two – Sunset**

It's ironic how, so long ago, Renji compared Byakuya's power (back then just a goal to surpass, a block in his road; now a friend, a brother) to a sunrise, whereas now the blood covering the wall he's sprawled against is the exact color of a violent sunset.

**Prompt Thirty-Three – Too Much**

_It's too much_, she thinks dully; the screams, the blood, the utter destruction. _It's just too much._

**Prompt Thirty-Four – Not Enough**

_It's not enough! _Renji shouts in his head; they need to fight, they need to struggle on, because he knows they can beat this enemy if they try. _It'll never be enough._

**Prompt Thirty-Five – Sixth Sense**

In Rukia's opinion, Renji has a sixth sense – he always knows where to find her when everything seems to be crashing down.

**Prompt Thirty-Six – Smell**

He smells like grass and water and sweat, and to her, it's the best smell in the world.

**Prompt Thirty-Seven – Sound (AU)**

He loves Rukia, he really does.

But if there's one thing, he promises himself, that he will never allow in their house again, it's a karaoke machine.

**Prompt Thirty-Eight – Touch**

Even after all of the years they've sent together, she can still make him hyper-aware of her slightest touch.

**Prompt Thirty-Nine – Taste (AU)**

She loves Renji, she really does.

But if there's one thing, she promises herself, that she's never letting him do again, it'll be cooking.

**Prompt Forty – Sight (AU)**

He can't help it – when he sees her in that wedding dress, he starts to cry.

**Prompt Forty-One – Shapes**

"Look, mama!" Little, five year-old Kaien shouts, shoving a paper into Rukia's face, and she coos over it while trying to make sense of the scribbles shapes he's carved into being.

**Prompt Forty-Two – Triangle (AU)**

The whole of their high school knows about their triangle – Ichigo wants Rukia back (who left him after one too many snide comments) who is kinda together with Renji (who wants Rukia to put a name on their relationship first)…

**Prompt Forty-Three – Square (AU)**

…And the triangle morphs into a square when Orihime comes into the picture, slowly dwindling down to nothing as Ichigo falls in love with her, and Rukia deeper with Renji.

**Prompt Forty-Four – Circle (AU)**

_This is a moment I want to remember forever_, he thinks, uncharacteristically sentimental, as he joins Rukia by the waves to draw circles in the sand.

**Prompt Forty-Five – Moon**

Renji chooses to propose to Rukia on a full moon, not telling anyone why; but when he tells Byakuya, he pats him on one broad shoulder and gives him a rare smile.

**Prompt Forty-Six – Star**

She says "yes" (actually, it was a beaming, slightly teary and utterly cliché "yes, you idiot!") just as a star falls across the sky.

**Prompt Forty-Seven – Heart**

"Renji," Byakuya snaps at him one day, "if you keep doodling hearts with my sister's name inside of them I will snap your pencil in two."

**Prompt Forty-Eight – Diamond**

She was never a diamond in the rough, he thinks, because she shone too brightly to ever be misplaced.

**Prompt Forty-Nine – Club (AU)**

It takes the both of them five minutes to subdue an inebriated Chad, who is stumbling about muttering something about clubs and bashing everyone's skulls in, as well as some language that sounds suspiciously like jumbled-up nothing.

**Prompt Fifty – Spade (AU)**

Rukia doesn't have a very good poker face, but neither does anyone else that they know, so it doesn't really matter whenever they play cards.

**Prompt Fifty-One – Water**

When Renji flies into a rage, she's always the one to calm him down – like water. Sometimes, she tosses her logical words over his flame rudely, but when he's alone, they'll trickle through his mind like rain drops, and let his anger dissipate like a cloud of smoke against the blue sky.

**Prompt Fifty-Two – Fire (AU)**

"No, Kaien!" Rukia shrieks as the two-year old reaches for the candle flame, blown out by Renji just in time.

**Prompt Fifty-Three – Earth (AU)**

"Look!" Renji cried triumphantly, mimicking his son's pose, "We made a… A…" He struggled for words to describe the pile of sand they had shaped by the waves, "A mound of dirt!"

Rukia snickered.

**Prompt Fifty-Four – Air**

Even after all those years, it's still hard to breathe when she's around.

**Prompt Fifty-Five – Spirit (In this one, Byakuya is dead, but they're humans.)**

Rukia stares at the tombstone, trying to ignore the murmurs of friends around her. She can't believe…

She tries to hold in her tears – "Never show anyone weakness," Byakuya had once told her, after all – but it's almost futile. She tilts her head back and swallows them, instead. "Brother…" She permits herself to whisper, and the wind strokes her hair, as if by the hands of a spirit.

**Prompt Fifty-Six – Breakfast**

"Open wide, Kaien," Rukia coos, trying to coax the restless toddler into allowing her to spoon food into his mouth, but he shakes his head and giggles.

"If you'll allow me," intones a voice from behind her, and she looks behind her so fast her neck kinks. It's Byakuya, with Renji standing in the doorway, grinning.

She hands the spoon over carefully, asking a silent question with her eyes that Renji doesn't answer.

They watch.

"Here comes the choo-choo train," Byakuya deadpans, and at the first "choo," Kaien opens his mouth obediently – even if the child had never seen a train in the Soul Society.

Rukia stares and Renji tries to disguise his laughter as a coughing fit.

**Prompt Fifty-Seven – Lunch (AU)**

As much as Renji hates to admit it (to his friends who laugh at him – Ichigo the loudest and bitterest, of course), high school lunch on the rooftop just wouldn't be the same without the Chappy stationary notes Rukia leaves on her passing way, reminding him of his math test or that he has detention with Zaraki until five.

They're all signed "Love, Rukia," though, so he doesn't really mind.

**Prompt Fifty-Eight – Dinner (AU)**

Their first date is an awkward dinner, both of them trying to pretend that it was perfectly normal for a best friend to ask the other if they'd like to eat Mexican and see a movie – and then give them flowers when they actually show up.

**Prompt Fifty-Nine – Food (AU)**

"No, Kaien, the dog food is not for you!"

Byakuya sighs, then checks the mantelpiece clock.

He decided babysitting is not for him.

**Prompt Sixty – Drink (AU)**

"…That was not an invitation to play in its water."

**Prompt Sixty-One – Winter**

Rukia has never liked winter – it's cold and bitter and brings up memories of bad times.

When Renji reminds him that they'll just have to make new memories next year, however, she finds the dark days shine just a bit brighter.

**Prompt Sixty-Two – Spring**

It's cheesy, but Rukia and Renji always make a point of seeing the cherry blossoms when they first bloom.

**Prompt Sixty-Three – Summer**

Rukia thinks it's fitting that Renji's birthday is on the last day of August – right when the sun burns red (passionate, fiery, and bright).

**Prompt Sixty-Four – Fall (AU)**

"Be good," Rukia tells her son as they linger by the classroom door, and Renji ruffles Kaien's hair as he runs to go join his kindergarten class.

**Prompt Sixty-Five – Passing**

Renji looks back on all of his years, and thinks to himself, quietly, that they would have passed so much slower without the person by his side, like thick, solemn molasses sticking to his body instead of trickling through her fingers like water; always chasing after last December and rushing towards a beautiful January.

**Prompt Sixty-Six – Rain (AU)**

Rukia dances (but doesn't sing, thankfully for all in the vicinity) when it rains – she doesn't skip or splash in puddles, just stands in the middle of the sidewalk and stretches out a single hand, swaying and wavering in place, as if she could disappear at any second.

Renji ducks out from under the curtain and goes to join her, bringing an umbrella and placing a hand on her shoulder to make sure she doesn't flicker away.

**Prompt Sixty-Seven – Snow (AU)**

Come the morning of the first snowfall, it's customary for Rukia and Renji to be rudely awakened by a fistful of the stuff – the imp that had thrown it scrambling back down the hall to hide under his bed, laughing.

**Prompt Sixty-Eight – Lightening**

Lightening isn't particularly frightening, Renji thinks, just fierce and furious – lonely.

He draws a sleeping Rukia closer to him and waits for the storm to pass.

**Prompt Sixty-Nine – Thunder (AU)**

Whenever thunder rolls over what seems like forever, the two go to a bowling alley and make their own thunder.

**Prompt Seventy – Storm**

Renji remembers the vague time after the Arrancars were defeated.

"There's a storm coming," Byakuya had said, disregarding the sun outside (Renji held back a laugh – it was a line all too reminiscent of those "Western" movies Ichigo had shown him back when he was posing as a high school student), "and when it does, keep Rukia close."

Renji had nodded, not really listening, storing the words in the back of his mind so they'd be there if he needed them.

**Prompt Seventy-One – Broken (AU)**

"Oh, no, Kaien, did your Crayon break?"

**Prompt Seventy-Two – Fixed (AU)**

"Well, let's go get the tape."

**Prompt Seventy-Three – Light (AU)**

Rukia watches the clock as she counts down the hours until Renji's night shift is over, and can't help but compare the sound of his sirens to the sound of a gunshot, aimed silkily in the darkness.

She sighs as the sun rises, and hears his familiar footsteps up their walkway.

**Prompt Seventy-Four – Dark (AU)**

Neither of them like dark chocolate – it isn't the taste, it's the bitterness that comes after even the finest is swallowed.

**Prompt Seventy-Five – Shade (AU)**

He sees her squint at the field, tracking the soccer ball with care, as if it could help her now six year-old score a perfect goal. Renji shifts slightly, casting shade over her, and she gives him a grateful smile, though she doesn't look up.

**Prompt Seventy-Six – Who? (AU)**

_Everyone is_

**Prompt Seventy-Seven – What? (AU)**

_invited to_

**Prompt Seventy-Eight – Where? (AU)**

_Moonstone Beach_

**Prompt Seventy-Nine – When? (AU)**

_at five o'clock in the evening on Saturday, March 13__th__,_

**Prompt Eighty – Why? (AU)**

_for the joining of Renji Abari and Rukia Kuchiki_.

**Prompt Eighty-One – How? (AU) **

The words fall in both their heads, shivering up and down their backs, because it's _finally going to happen _and the pair is giddy with excitement and each other, as each cream-colored envelope is dropped into the mail.

**Prompt Eighty-Two – School (AU)**

Kaien did fairly well in school – academics weren't really a problem. _It was behavior that was_, Renji remarked upon dryly, sitting in the principal's office for the third time in the first week of the fourth grade.

**Prompt Eighty-Three – Work (AU)**

Rukia knew work was hard – for their whole family.

**Prompt Eighty-Four – Home (AU)**

That's why she felt so happy to be home, you know?

**Prompt Eighty-Five – Birthday **

The family crowds around the table in mid-January, and watches as Rukia blows out her candles, extinguishing a year of hardships and joys in a single puff. She bites into the next with anticipation, hoping it'll be just as fantastic.

The family gathers around again in May, this time to celebrate the youngest of the three's birthday. He doesn't care much for blowing out candles, just puffs at them half-heartedly and watches as his parents cut up his cake impatiently. He doesn't quite know how to savor years yet, but neither one worries – he will, when it's important.

The family circles around three months later, watching as Renji works away at his candles. Rukia hides a smile behind her hand, and Kaien giggles loudly, and the truth dawns on him that they've put those damn ever-lasting candles in the frosting. But he plays along anyway, dousing the room in a cheerful darkness when he manages it at last.

**Prompt Eighty-Six – Christmas (AU)**

It's the two's first Christmas together, and their leery on gifts.

Of course, it's not their _real _first Christmas together, just their first _together_.

When Rukia explains her problem to her friends, they happily share tales of their own experiences ("Oh my God, it was so awkward!" "I seriously couldn't believe it, I mean, really?" "It's the thought that counts, remember that." "It was actually really sweet, though!"), but are of no real help.

Renji asks around his friends (and Rukia's, who laugh at his clumsy attempts at being subtle), and it's the other sides of the tales shared. ("Hey, it was funny looking back on it." "I meant well… Now I know not to get her sweets." "It was kinda nice, actually." "At least she liked, I mean… Hey, that's what matters, right?")

It takes days of daydreaming, and nights of fretting, but finally, they come up with something (somehow).

**Prompt Eighty-Seven – Thanksgiving (AU)**

It's kind of like a Hallmark card of a Rockwell painting, their table.

It's comfortable and not crowded, and beautifully set. Rukia takes in one last second of perfection…

…Until family (extended and blood-related) comes crashing through the door, suddenly making everything a lot more fun.

**Prompt Eighty-Eight – Independence (AU)**

Fireworks light up the sky, casting strange lights on everyone's faces, and looking around at everyone, the two can hardly feel more free.

**Prompt Eighty-Nine – New Years (AU)**

Maybe it's the champagne, or maybe it's the strange feelings that have been swimming around in both their stomachs, but when the ball drops and couples spontaneously embrace, so do they.

They both (awkwardly then) remember it in the morning, and both (thankfully) are able to laugh about it now, hands linked loosely, the way it should be.

**Prompt Ninety– If**

There would always be a fair share of _'what if'_s in the back of their minds, dancing just out of reach and tickling the worst parts of their nature, but the other always knew the right word to turn them into _'why not'_s.

**Prompt Ninety-One – And**

They weren't a RenjiRukiathat'sallthereis kind of couple. There were always spaces between them, no matter how small, but they were like pockets of air, allowing each to breathe and them close the gap, leaving another to explore. It was Renji _and _Rukia, and that's the way it would stay.

**Prompt Ninety-Two -– He**

He had loved her since the moment he truly saw her; beautiful and free and _alive_. She… completed him, and even if she was so far away he could never reach her, he'd always feel her, begging him to try.

**Prompt Ninety-Three – She**

She hadn't realized it… For too long. She thought she had known what it was when he really smiled at her, unabashed and open and, well, _alive_, fierce and glinting in the sunlight; had thought she had known what it was tearing at her as she pulled away from his warm hand, but in actuality she never really had. She knew now, though, and would run for him even if she had to fall from the stars.

**Prompt Ninety-Four – Choices**

And there was Ichigo, standing in front of her, blocking out the sun that in turn lent him a halo, eyes burning bright with all the confidence in the world, knowing grin replacing the smirk that truly did seem to melt away when he saw her.

Standing in front of her, holding out a hand, as if she couldn't get up off the ground without him.

Her eyes shifted to the sprawled body next to her. Renji had never looked so broken; gashes covering him from head to foot, hair splayed onto his face, barely breathing. The sun did him no favors; it gave his face deep shadows of pain that seemed horribly, irrevocably etched onto his features.

Lying next to her_,_ because he had really been there the whole time, steadying her when she needed it, but always letting her go free.

She ignored the hand outstretched to her, and got up herself.

**Prompt Ninety-Five – Life**

…And then collapsed on top of Renji, who gave a feeble moan, because that was life, and in truth, she could never remember feeling more exhausted.

**Prompt Ninety-Six – **_**Writers Choice: Time**_

"Time waits for no one," someone somewhere said, buried in the very sands of it, but just standing there with Renji, Rukia can hardly think of anyone she'd rather race it with.

**Prompt Ninety-Seven – **_**Writer's Choice: Pocketwatch **_**(AU)**

"I'm late!" Renji cries, scampering past the place where Rukia rests, drowsily taking in his rabbit ears.

If she were Alice, she'd jump up and follow, but since she's _Rukia _and she's _tired_, she just shrugs and goes to sleep.

When she wakes up again, though, she promises herself sleepily, she'll make Renji wear those bunny ears again…

**Prompt Ninety-Eight – **_**Writer's Choice: License **_**(AU)**

Rukia is, surprisingly, not a bad driver (or, at least, whenever Kaien's in the car. When he's not…); it's Renji that gets pulled over the most, but it's not because he _means _to speed, it's just that he was distracted. (Usually by Rukia, but then again, who can say that's a bad thing?)

**Prompt Ninety-Nine – **_**Writer's Choice: Almost**_

She almost turns around and catches his hand again, but then that urge is blown away by the wind and her own determination to rely only on herself.

**Prompt One-hundred – **_**Writer's Choice: Letters **_**(AU)**

_Dear, dear Ichigo,_

_You made the sun come out, and I'm thankful for that._

_But… Renji makes the sun come out._

_Goodbye. _


End file.
